Where a defendant was charged with murder and the issue arose as to whether the partial defence of loss of self-control should be left to the jury the trial judge had to undertake a much more rigorous evaluation of the evidence before that defence could be left to the jury than had been required under the former law of provocation.

‘A man has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years for killing a teenage girl in a hit-and-run crash. Jasmyn Chan, 14, died when she was hit by a car on Normanton Hill, Sheffield, on 9 May while crossing the road.’

‘Clive Anderson and guests ask why Britain, unlike many other countries in the world, has no general law which requires people to behave like good Samaritans, punishing those who fail to help others in trouble.’

‘Mike Penning, the Justice Minister, tells The Telegraph he will change the law before Easter to close a loophole that allows killer drivers to get back behind the wheel as soon as they leave prison.’
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‘The widow of Jimmy Mubenga, the Angolan man who died after being physically restrained on a deportation flight, said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the acquittal of three private security guards who were charged with his killing.’

‘Sixteen people from a single police force face criminal and disciplinary charges after the cries for help from a disabled man wrongly accused of paedophilia and killed by a drunken vigilante were allegedly ignored in the days before his murder.’

‘Where, on a charge of murder, there was uncontradicted expert evidence to the effect that a defence of diminished responsibility was made out and the defendant applied at the close of evidence for the case of murder to be withdrawn, the judge should not leave the case of murder to the jury simply because the Crown wanted it to be left to the jury, but should evaluate whether a properly directed jury could properly convict of murder.’

‘The husband of a depressed mother who killed her three young disabled children has criticised medical professionals for the “constant pressure” placed on the family to “submit the children to operations and other interventions”.’